A headless torso has been identified 44 years later. Police now seek woman's killer
In 1981, railroad workers stumbled upon a headless torso in an empty field in San Jose, California. A pair of Christian medallions lay nearby.
Nearly 44 years after two California railroad workers stumbled upon a headless torso in a field in San Jose, detectives have identified the victim as an Oakland grandmother.
It was just before 10 a.m. on the morning of July 11, 1981, when the workers made their grisly discovery in an empty field, the San Francisco Examiner reported at the time. The site now harbors a commuter rail transit center and parking structure.
The dismembered and decomposing torso, with multiple stab wounds to the chest and no legs or arms, was wrapped in plastic. Nearby lay a pair of Christian medallions, one featuring Saint Christopher and the other the Virgin Mary.
“Vivian Moss was her name,” said Santa Clara District Attorney Jeff Rosen in a news release May 27 announcing the development. “My office knows it. I know it. Her family knows it. And now our community knows it.”
The district attorney’s cold case unit identified Moss through DNA using forensic genealogy and hope the information will help unveil her killer.
Moss, a native of Arkansas, was a 54-year-old grandmother who may have worked at an elementary school in Oakland before her disappearance, the DA's office said.
Family members told investigators that Moss was “close” to preacher Louis H. Narcisse, the late founder of Oakland’s Mt. Zion Spiritual Church and a renowned vocalist.
How investigators identified Moss
In 2023, the Santa Clara DA’s office partnered with forensic genealogists at Virginia-based Parabon NanoLabs, who suggested the remains were likely that of Vivian Moss.
Cold case unit investigators in 2024 tracked down Moss’ granddaughter, who recalled waiting as a young girl in the 1980s for her grandmother to pick her up for an overnight stay at her house. However, the woman said Moss failed to show, and she never saw her grandmother again.
The DA’s office concluded that the remains were those of Moss based on Parabon’s testing comparing the granddaughter’s DNA to evidence at the crime scene. Her case was featured in an October 2023 video showcasing the work of the DA’s office cold case unit.
“One day soon, I hope we will know the depraved person who took her life and left her in a field, hoping she would be forgotten,” Rosen said. “If her murderer is still alive, they will know that we don’t forget in Santa Clara County.”
A close association with preacher
A photograph posted on social media by the American Museum of Paramusicology said the Mt. Zion preacher she was close with, Narcisse, was known for his collaborations with gospel singer Mahalia Jackson.
According to SFGate.com, Narcisse, whose congregants called him "His Grace," wore robes and a crown and carried a staff. He launched churches nationwide and hosted a syndicated Sunday radio show.
A profile by British music writer Opal Louis Nations describes Narcisse, who died in 1989, as enthralled with the British monarchy, a man thought by some to work miracles as he spread the gospel in his parish. However, Nations wrote, "others saw him as a devil, con artist and clever snake-oil salesman" with "a darker, exploitative side" who "bled his parishioners dry."
The church no longer operates and last posted on social media in November 2023.